The popular swimming pool De Spurd in Purmerend faced the challenge of drastically reducing the bound chlorine in a short period of time. They succeeded, with the help of the UV systems of Van Remmen UV Technology. Marcel Holwedel, technical man at De Spurd: ‘As a staff member, you really notice the difference as well.’
Battle against dirt
It can get busy at Swimming Pool de Spurd. In fact: on a good summer’s day, around 1500 visitors quickly walk into the Purmerend swimming paradise. Children slide down the slides and play equipment in the leisure pool, older people do exercises in the target-group pool and enthusiastic lane swimmers make their metres in the competition pool. So, pleasant crowds, but under water a battle against dirt. This is mainly fought by chlorine, which renders bacteria and viruses harmless. But chlorine has an important disadvantage: it causes ‘bound chlorine (GBC’s)’. This causes the typical chlorine smell, stinging eyes and skin irritations. The dirtier the water is, the more bound chlorine. And that is not pleasant.
Always on the edge
‘In the instruction pool it was quite a challenge on busy days to stay within the bound chlorine limit of 1,0mg/l’, says Marcel. ‘We solved this by flushing a lot with make-up water (adding fresh water), often three times per week, but still the GBC values fluctuated between 0,8 or 0,9 mg/l. With the introduction of the new Dutch swimming water legislation (max 0,6 mg/l), this therefore had to go down significantly. After looking around extensively, Van Remmen turned out to be the best party for this.
Suitable UV-systems
The treatment installations of the pools in De Spurd were all fitted with UV systems from the Si-series. The swimming water now flows through the UV reactor where UV-C light breaks down the microbiological contaminants (such as bacteria and viruses) and the bound chlorine in the water. The disinfected water can then be safely used again. Marcel: ‘It was a matter of figuring out which reactor had the right dimensions and capacity. The cooperation in that process was very good. Once we had found the right one, it worked flawlessly. ‘
Less bound chlorine, more comfort
The results did not take long to appear. ‘We suddenly met the bound chlorine standards with ease. In the competition pool, we went from an average 0,6/0,7 mg/l to 0,2. The leisure pool, instruction pool and target-group bool also all dropped to 0,3 mg/l, all pools now meeting the standards. And as staff we really notice the difference as well. Bound chlorine is aggressive stuff, also for the airways. Since the arrival of the UV-systems it has become much more pleasant to be in the swimming pool all day.’’
